Coastal cities carry a different kind of risk. Their growth depends on ports staying open, shipping schedules holding, and insurance remaining affordable. When any of these slip, the impact is immediate: cargo backs up, costs rise, projects stall, and jobs slow down. These are not abstract outcomes.

They show up in construction timelines, rental demand, and investor confidence across port-linked markets. In early 2025, the Indian Coast Guard operated 151 ships and 76 aircraft, with 55–60 ships and 10–12 aircraft deployed daily for maritime surveillance, and a plan to reach 200 ships and 100 aircraft by 2030.

This constant presence explains why disruptions rarely escalate into prolonged breakdowns. The role of the Indian Coast Guard lies behind the day-to-day stability that coastal real estate markets depend on.

To truly understand why port cities continue to attract long-term investment, it is necessary to understand how this security layer functions.

Key Takeaways:

• Coastal security is a real estate variable, not just a defence concern:
  Nearly 90% of India’s trade moves by sea. The role of the Indian Coast Guard directly affects port continuity, employment cycles, and property stability in coastal cities.

• Daily maritime presence prevents urban disruption:
  In early 2025, the Coast Guard operated 151 ships and 76 aircraft, with up to 60 ships deployed daily. This reduces the risk of port shutdowns that can stall housing and commercial markets.

• Port inefficiencies increase city-level risk:
  Capacity gaps, slow turnaround times, weak connectivity, and labour disruptions at ports push up logistics costs. These delays quickly affect construction timelines and real estate demand.

• Port reliability shapes property market behaviour:
  Stable coastal access supports logistics parks, housing demand, and port-linked employment. When security weakens, insurance costs rise and coastal markets adjust faster than inland cities.

• Long-term city building depends on institutional thinking:
  Managing these risks requires continuity, governance, and long-horizon planning. This approach is reflected in BCD India’s city-building work and in Ashwinder R. Singh’s view of real estate as a long-term institution.

India’s Coastal Cities and Their Exposure

Ports are where India’s trade meets its cities. When they work, movement feels routine. When they do not, the stress shows up quickly in costs, delays, and planning uncertainty across coastal regions.

This matters because close to 90% of India’s trade by volume and over 75% by value depends on maritime transport, routed largely through a small number of port cities.

So the question is not whether ports matter to coastal cities. It is how well they are actually equipped to handle the load placed on them.

1.Capacity Has Not Kept Up With Trade

Cargo volumes at Indian ports have grown steadily, but capacity expansion has lagged behind. For several years, traffic handled at major ports exceeded their designed capacity, leading to congestion and longer waiting times for ships.

When ports operate above capacity, delays become routine, and costs rise across supply chains tied to those cities.

2.Turnaround Time Still Remains High

While average turnaround and pre-berthing times have improved marginally over the years, Indian ports remain far slower than leading global ports. Where ports such as Singapore and Hong Kong clear vessels within hours, Indian ports often take days.

These delays raise freight costs and reduce reliability for businesses that depend on predictable delivery schedules.

3.Productivity Gaps Are Structural

Low productivity at Indian ports is not incidental. It is linked to older equipment, limited drafts, fewer berths, and handling systems that are not aligned with current cargo volumes.

For example, even large ports like JNPT have struggled to handle rising container traffic efficiently, despite accounting for over half of India’s container market.

4.Connectivity Beyond The Port Is Weak

Port performance does not end at the quay. Road and rail links moving cargo inland are often congested or underdeveloped. Without reliable hinterland connectivity, cargo backs up at terminals, increasing dwell time and cost. For coastal cities, this affects industrial supply chains, construction material availability, and warehousing demand.

5.Technology And Process Delays Add Friction

While many Indian ports have adopted electronic systems in parts, information flow between ports, customs, inland terminals, and shipping agents remains fragmented. Exporters and importers still deal with multiple agencies, formats, and approvals.

The absence of a unified clearance process stretches timelines and raises transaction costs.

6.Regulatory And Documentation Burdens Slow Movement

Customs procedures in India require more documentation and physical checks than many competing ports in the region. This increases clearance time and cost per container. Studies cited in the report show that moving containers through Indian ports costs significantly more than at comparable ports in Southeast Asia.

7.Labour Disruptions Have Real Urban Impact

Labour issues at major ports have repeatedly led to work stoppages. Even short strikes create cargo backlogs that take weeks to clear. For port cities, these stoppages affect employment cycles, industrial output, and confidence in long-term operations tied to port activity.

Taken together, these issues explain why India’s coastal cities carry a higher operational risk than inland centres.

Managing this level of urban risk calls for development built on continuity and governance, a focus reflected in BCD India’s city-building approach.

With so much urban and economic activity tied to coastal movement, safeguarding these waters becomes a daily requirement rather than an occasional response.

What the Indian Coast Guard Is Responsible For

The Indian Coast Guard works along India’s 7,500 km coastline and across its exclusive economic zone. Most people never interact with it directly, yet coastal cities depend on this work every single day. It supports the basic assumption that ports stay accessible, offshore assets remain protected, and movement at sea does not spiral into disruption.

What this responsibility looks like in practice:

• Coastal Surveillance:
  Ships, aircraft, and coastal radar stations are used to monitor Indian waters on a continuous basis. This helps identify intrusions, smuggling routes, and unusual movement before risks reach ports or the shoreline.

• Port Security:
  Harbour patrols, vessel boarding, and access checks are carried out around major and minor ports. These checks reduce the chances of unauthorised entry, sabotage, or pollution incidents that could interrupt port operations.

• Offshore Asset Protection:
  Offshore oil and gas installations, including critical assets like Mumbai High, are guarded through dedicated patrols. This lowers risk to energy supply and ensures merchant vessels can operate nearby without added exposure.

• Maritime Law Enforcement:
  The Coast Guard enforces laws related to smuggling, illegal fishing, and marine pollution in Indian waters. Working with customs and other agencies, it conducts interdictions and investigations. In 2025 alone, contraband seizures crossed ₹52,000 crore.

For anyone looking at coastal cities, ports, or property markets, this matters because stability on land depends on order at sea. The role of the Indian Coast Guard is not abstract. It is a daily operational layer that keeps coastal activity predictable enough for cities to function and plan ahead.

Suggested Read: Indian Air Force History and India’s Strategic Power

When security holds along the coast, its impact is felt first at ports, where safe access and steady movement determine whether trade continues without interruption.

From Coastal Security to Port Reliability

Coastal security matters at ports in very practical ways. It decides whether ships are allowed to approach on schedule, whether berths stay occupied, and whether cargo keeps moving without precautionary stoppages.

The link between security at sea and reliability at ports becomes clear when you look at where the Indian Coast Guard’s work shows up inside port operations:

When port operations remain predictable, the effects move quickly beyond the harbour and into the cities that grow around them.

Port Cities and Property Markets

Once port operations remain predictable, their influence moves inland. Jobs cluster, housing follows employment, and commercial space grows around cargo movement. In port cities, property markets respond directly to what happens at the harbour, often faster than in cities not tied to maritime trade.

Where the connection shows up:

• Employment Near Ports:
  Ports employ tens of thousands directly, with many more in trucking, warehousing, and processing. In several coastal districts, these roles form a large share of local jobs.

• Housing Demand From Port-Led Work:
  Steady port activity supports rental demand close to harbours, especially in affordable and mid-income housing. When cargo flow holds, occupancy stays high.

• Commercial And Storage Space:
  Warehousing and godowns grow alongside cargo volumes. Offices for freight and logistics firms tend to cluster nearby and are sensitive to changes in throughput.

• Faster Reaction To Disruption:
  Because most trade moves by sea, coastal markets respond quickly to delays or stoppages. Yields adjust sooner than they do in inland cities with broader economic bases.

For a deeper look at how employment, housing, and infrastructure decisions shape long-term property outcomes, Ashwinder R. Singh’s books offer a practical framework grounded in Indian cities.

And when that security layer weakens, the effects surface quickly, and the first signs usually appear in how ports and cities start to strain.

Where Things Go Wrong Without Coastal Security

When coastal security weakens, the fallout does not stay at sea. It shows up in higher costs, slower movement, and stalled decisions across port cities. Trade interruptions quickly turn into logistics delays, which then ripple through jobs, construction timelines, and property demand.

Below is how the breakdown plays out.

• Higher Insurance Costs:
  Perceived risk along the coast pushes marine insurance premiums up by 10–20%. Freight rates rise alongside war-risk surcharges, increasing costs for ports and the businesses that depend on them.

• Shipping Avoidance:
  During security alerts, carriers divert away from exposed ports, adding 2–5 days to voyages. Throughput drops at major gateways, even though these ports handle the bulk of India’s cargo.

• Supply Chain Delays:
  Slower vessel movement disrupts industrial inputs. Clusters tied to ports face material shortages and inventory pile-ups, with production losses reaching 15–30% in some cases.

• Real Estate Impact:
  Delays in cargo affect construction schedules, warehousing uptake, and port-linked employment. Rentals near ports soften when jobs pause, and yields adjust more quickly than in inland markets.

Must Read: Top 10 Real Estate Motivational Videos to Watch in 2026

When stability at sea supports stability on land, the conversation naturally shifts to how cities are planned, governed, and led over the long term.

Ashwinder R. Singh and the Institutional View of Cities

Cities struggle when development loses trust, continuity, and accountability. Real estate decisions made for speed rather than durability leave behind stress that surfaces years later, in infrastructure gaps, legal disputes, and fragile neighbourhoods. This is the fault line Ashwinder R. Singh’s work consistently addresses.

Before entering real estate leadership, Mr. Singh spent years in global banking with Citibank, Deutsche Bank, ICICI, Fullerton Singapore, and Bajaj Housing Finance. That exposure to capital discipline and risk shaped a view of cities as systems that must hold under pressure, not just perform at launch.

That perspective carries into his current roles as Vice Chairman and CEO of the BCD Group, Chairman of CII’s Real Estate Committee, Advisor to NAR India, and a member of CII’s National Taskforce on Ease of Doing Business.

How this view shows up in practice

• Cities are planned as long-term systems, not short-cycle projects.

• Neighbourhoods are prioritised over isolated developments.

• Governance and compliance are treated as core infrastructure.

• Success is measured by durability, not speed.

This approach shows up in his work, from BCD City in Bengaluru to leading Bhartiya City, co-founding ANAROCK, and heading JLL Residential during a key phase for Indian housing.

For a fuller picture of his work and leadership, see Ashwinder R. Singh’s biography.

A Note on Lineage and Responsibility

The long-view that runs through Ashwinder R. Singh’s work is not incidental. It is shaped by a legacy of service that predates his professional career. His father, Colonel Sirinder Raj Singh, served in the Indian Army during the 1971 war, later commanded infantry units, and went on to lead logistics operations for United Nations peacekeeping missions in Cambodia. He made the ultimate sacrifice while on UN duty in 1993.

That background informs a quiet but consistent idea of leadership: responsibility does not end with a role or a project. It carries forward through institutions, decisions, and the outcomes others live with long after.

Also Read: History of the Indian Army: Discipline, Duty, and Democracy

Conclusion

Coastal cities function on continuity. When security at sea holds, ports stay reliable, jobs remain steady, and property markets have room to settle rather than react. The role of the Indian Coast Guard sits quietly behind this stability, containing risk before it reaches the shore.

For anyone building, buying, or investing in port-linked cities, this connection matters. Stability is not created at the point of sale. It is built through systems that allow cities to absorb pressure without repeated disruption.

Ashwinder R. Singh continues this conversation through his weekly newsletter on real estate, leadership, and city-building. It offers a steady perspective for those thinking beyond the next cycle and toward what lasts.

FAQS

1. Why does the role of the Indian Coast Guard matter to real estate markets?

Because coastal security keeps ports operational. When ports function without disruption, jobs, housing demand, and commercial activity in port cities remain stable.

2. How does coastal security affect port reliability?

Secure coastal access allows ships to approach on schedule, berths to stay occupied, and cargo to move without precautionary stoppages that delay trade.

3. Why do coastal property markets react faster than inland cities?

Port cities depend heavily on sea-borne trade. Any disruption quickly affects employment, rentals, construction timelines, and yields, leaving less buffer than inland markets.

4. What happens to real estate when coastal security weakens?

Insurance costs rise, shipping avoids exposed ports, supply chains slow, and construction materials are delayed, directly affecting housing demand and project delivery.

5. What should buyers and investors take away from this?

In coastal cities, long-term property decisions depend as much on institutional stability and security as on location or pricing. Understanding this link helps reduce risk over time.